fred shuttlesworth

In this final episode of the summer series TRUTH QUEST, our travelers make their way to Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In March of 1965, civil rights protesters were met by a lineup of armed police (many on horseback) with attack dogs and billy clubs who ordered them to turn back. When the marchers refused, they were brutally attacked on a day that became known as Bloody Sunday. SNCC Director John Lewis (later Congressman) was viciously beaten and nearly died that day. We take a ceremonial walk across that bridge. We proceed to Birmingham, known in the 50s and 60s as "Bombingham," where Martin Luther King  (along with Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth) were imprisoned in 1963 for their civil disobedience. We hear a reading of King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail (Osahon Obazuaye). Several months after King wrote his letter, a bomb exploded on a Sunday morning as the congregation gathered for worship in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls. A fifth, Sarah Collins, lost her sister and best friends but survived the blast. All these years later, she met with our group in the memorial park across from the church and shared her story. Ken wraps the series with some reflections, from several fellow travelers and then some concluding reflections of his own. SHOW NOTES

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Listen to the entire series - TRUTH QUEST: Exploring the History of Race in America - in their own words.

In this final episode of the summer series TRUTH QUEST, our travelers make their way to Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In March of 1965, civil rights protesters were met by a lineup of armed police (many on horseback) with attack dogs and billy clubs who ordered them to turn back. When the marchers refused, they were brutally attacked on a day that became known as Bloody Sunday. SNCC Director John Lewis (later Congressman) was viciously beaten and nearly died that day. We take a ceremonial walk across that bridge. We proceed to Birmingham, known in the 50s and 60s as "Bombingham," where Martin Luther King  (along with Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth) were imprisoned in 1963 for their civil disobedience. We hear a reading of King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail (Osahon Obazuaye). Several months after King wrote his letter, a bomb exploded on a Sunday morning as the congregation gathered for worship in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls. A fifth, Sarah Collins, lost her sister and best friends but survived the blast. All these years later, she met with our group in the memorial park across from the church and shared her story. Ken wraps the series with some reflections, from several fellow travelers and then some concluding reflections of his own. SHOW NOTES

Listen to the entire series - TRUTH QUEST: Exploring the History of Race in America - in their own words.

Host Bryant Monteilh takes listeners for A Rewind In Time with this candid 2004 interview of Southern Christian Leadership co-founder Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. 

In the 1950s and 60s in Birmingham, Alabama, an endorsement from Shuttlesworth's would earn the public's trust when activists came to town to fight for desegregation and voting rights. Shuttlesworth was on the front lines against the Klan and rogue authority figures. He survived two bombings and an incident where he was  fire hosed and hospitalized. In Shuttlesworth's own words he gives behind-the-scenes details of some tense moments when he had to cut his hospital stay short in order to challenge Dr. Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy who at one point leaned toward standing down in their demands for change. As Shuttlesworth pointed out quite fervently, thousands of children in Birmingham had already filled the jails in this fight during the historic Children's Crusade of 1963. And the youth along with the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) had been putting their lives on the line for more than a decade. There would be no backing down--even at the request of President Kennedy.

During a march in Selma just two years later, Shuttlesworth, Dr. King and Abernathy had to make an important decision again while facing down state troopers. The men made a choice while kneeling in prayer. That day went down in history as Turnaround Tuesday.  

Throughout his life, Shuttlesworth stood his ground and prevailed.  The citizens of Birmingham moved the needle toward justice.

This interview first aired on KBLA Talk 1580, Los Angeles, CA

This episodes tells the story of how in the 1950s and 60s, Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the most racially segregated places in the U.S. People around the world were shocked when they learned of church bombings and saw photos and news footage of police turning their dogs on black teenagers or firemen aiming their hoses at protesters who were marching peacefully downtown.  It was a watershed moment in the Civil Rights movement not only in Alabama, but for the country.

It features Sarah Collins Rudolph, Reverend Arthur Price, Dan Carter, Brenna Wynn Greer, Sekou Franklin, Frye Gaillard, Mills Thornton, Dorothy Walker, and Glenn Eskew.  

The Alabama Civil Rights Trail Podcast is a series where historians and experts help us explore some of the most significant events of the Movement that happened in the state.

We also share the real stories of people who were there and who made a difference. And we learn why what took place then is still so relevant to us today.

After listening to the podcast, follow the actual Alabama Civil Rights Trail through Anniston, Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery and many other places in the state. 

Go to https://alabama.travel/experience-alabama/civil-rights-legacy or https://civilrightstrail.com/ to create your own personal travel experience using interactive maps, mobile apps and other planning tools.